


As I take your hand

by QueenOfQuixotic



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Dancing, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Roommates, Slow Dancing, because i'm a sucker for slow dancing, i like careless whisper too much, its just so sensual, solangelo my comfort ship, unironic use of a meme song ig, without being explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29183463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfQuixotic/pseuds/QueenOfQuixotic
Summary: Nico whispered, soft with a barely-there edge of teasing, into the air between them. “I’ll just have to teach you then, hmm?”It was very difficult not to be completely aware with every cell of his body of how close their mouths were. Will swallowed air and forced himself to breathe.Does Nico really not know what he does to him?___Slow dancing gay babies. Need I say more?I recommend the slowed version of careless whisper for this one.___
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 17
Kudos: 87





	As I take your hand

“Hey.” Will kicked the stool leg, this time with a little extra force.

  
Nico turned a page.

  
“Hey.”Will shifted his foot to aim a kick at his pale ankle instead.  
Nico grunted. “What?” He didn’t lift his eyes from the book.

“I’m bored.”  
Nico leaned closer to his book. “Cool.”

“Hey!” Will kicked his ankle again. “You need to do something about it!"

Nico shut his book, but not without keeping a finger to mark his place. He huffed a little breath and pointed a look at Will. The act made the bit of dark fringe hanging in his eyes jump off his forehead.

 _Cute_ , Will thinks. He may have giggled a little.

Nico’s forehead scrunched delicately. “What’s funny.”

Will sucked on his cheeks to stop the laughter brewing in his belly. “ _Nothinggggggggg_!”  
Another choked giggle burst out before he could stop it.

Nico exhaled sharply. “You don’t seem to be having any trouble amusing yourself now, so I’ll just go back to my book.”

The giggles die in Will’s throat. “Hey, no!” He grabbed Nico’s wrist before it could flip the book open.

It feels like slow motion, the way Nico looks at Will’s sturdy fingers wrapped around his wrist and then at Will. Slowly, painfully so, A single dark eyebrow winches itself upward.

_Think fast, brain!_

“Um.” Will splutters. “Er.” He still hasn’t let go of Nico’s wrist.

The eyebrow does not lower. If anything, it may have ascended a few centimeters.

“Dance with me!” Will chokes out.

 _Thanks a lot, brain._  
His brain has nothing to say for itself. Stupid brain.

Nico blinks. “....What?” The eyebrow has achieved orbit.

“I said-” Will takes a deep breath. Might as well go for broke, right?”- dance with me?”

Of all the things Will could have said, the reason that his brain supplies this is beyond his comprehension. What is even further beyond his understanding, is how Nico lets a low smile spread across his features as he turns his hand to grasp Will’s wrist and pulls him out of his chair. There’s a moment where Will almost tumbles onto the floor, but just before it can happen Nico’s hand is at his waist catching him.

Will looks up at Nico. He was still smiling. “Ok.”  
“Huh.” Will eloquently supplies.  
“Ok.” Nico’s smile is a bit wider. “Let’s dance.”

***

Nico and Will were not on the same page when it came to what consisted of dance.

Will had expected them to turn on some sproingy pop and bop around their kitchen a bit. Maybe he could sneak Girls Just Wanna Have Fun into the queue. As much as Nico claimed to find the song abhorrent, the tiny foot-tapping thing he did whenever it came on their little radio told Will everything he needed to know.

What he hadn’t expected, was to find himself in the middle of their kitchen, George Micheal murmuring about love and loss from their radio, with his hand on Nico’s waist, and Nico’s chest against his own.

“Well?” Nico squeezed the hand that lied on Will’s shoulder. “Start dancing, sunshine boy.”

Oh. Nico didn’t just want to dance with him. He wanted to _waltz_ with him. He wanted to waltz and he wanted, no, _expected_ Will to lead.

 _Well_. That was problematic.

“Could it be,” Nico shuffled a bit closer and tilted his head to the side so that his bangs fell out of his eyes,” that you don’t know how?”

Will laughed. “Guilty as charged. “ He ducked his head and tried not to stare too hard at where their chests met.

Something soft bumped his cheek. Nico’s nose nudged against his face, soft hair brushing gently against tan skin. From that angle, he couldn’t see Nico’s face through his hair, but he had a feeling he was smiling.

Nico whispered, soft with a barely-there edge of teasing, into the air between them. “I’ll just have to teach you then, hmm?”

It was very difficult not to be completely aware with every cell of his body of how close their mouths were. Will swallowed air and forced himself to breathe.

_Does he really not know what he does to me?_

Will let out a chuckle that ended in a sigh. “I guess so.”

And so they swayed together, Nico’s small, firm hand that had gone from his shoulder to his waist, guiding Will through the motions. It couldn’t be denied: Nico was a fantastic dancer. Even with Will’s amateur form, Nico led them to the tune of- Will tilted his head to catch the notes of the song- _Careless Whisper_ (how goddamn ironic) with an effortless sort of grace. Every time Will misstepped, Nico’s smile and hand were there to hold him steady.

Of course, It would have been more effective if the gentle way his face lit up to reassure Will didn’t make him feel like he was running a marathon to the top of the world.

And if he was being _really_ honest, the hand wasn’t helping either. As they twirled and swayed together, Will couldn’t help but think about the hands that were pulling him through the motions. They looked so fragile, all long fingers and slender wrists, like they belonged to a pretty porcelain doll. But any delicacy was deception. They were wicked strong, and he could feel it every time he stumbled and one of them caught him in their firm grip.

Nico’s hands are achingly beautiful and amazingly capable, and Will couldn’t quite decide on which quality he liked better.

He may have been losing his mind.

At some point, Nico’s hand shifted from his waist to his shoulders and Will’s found their way to Nico’s back, holding him tight. _This didn’t strictly fall under the guise of a dance lesson, now did it?_ He doesn’t know when it happened, and even when he’s finally conscious of it, he can’t get himself to care. The world has shrunk itself to the edges of his sun-soaked kitchen and to the warm presence of the man between his arms.

Will knows, distantly, that this moment will have to end. That they will have to find a way to laugh this off, to go back to being friends and roommates, to pretend that they aren’t spending the twilight in each other’s embrace. But for now, he lets the gentle crooning from their tiny speaker, and the drowsy light that bounces off the dishes they washed together, and the feel of Nico’s soft hair against his cheek wash that thought away like a wave lapping softly at the shore.

But then the volume of the song picks up for just a second, and Will can hear the lyrics loud and clear.

_‘We could have been so good together. We could have danced this dance forever.’_

Will feels the words percolate through the haze of warmth and contentment that had settled over him. He’s painfully aware of the meaning of the pang that passes through him, like a hot knife to an old scar. He desperately doesn’t want this to end. He knows of how he wants to keep dancing like this for as long as Nico will let him, how he wants to hold him even without the excuse of a dance lesson, how he wants to take Nico’s chin in his hand and tilt it up so their lips can meet so bad it makes his hands _shake._

The idea of losing Nico as a friend hurts. But right now, nothing hurts more than the idea of having to let this end.

So he does it. He places his hands on either side of Nico’s jaw and tilts his head up. He asks him so softly it almost gets lost under the melody of the song.

“Nico,” Will asks. “Can I kiss you?”

And in the moment between when surprise bloomed in Nico’s ink-black eyes and when Nico gently, wordlessly pressed his mouth to Will’s, he idly remembers something his mother had said about good dancers being good kissers, and Will smiles into the kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> so. i wrote a fic.  
> curse you stan. you're the reason i fell down this hole.   
> i really hope the fic! come talk to me in the comments- it makes my whole year!


End file.
